Imagine.

"Imagine all the people

Living life in peace..."

-john lennon

Um.....yeah.

Photo of a rockhunting trip a few years back...


"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn."

-John Muir

Chiquitita

We're so lucky when we go out of town because we get to leave Chica with my Mom and Dad in Marysvale, where she is endlessly entertained. They treat her just like one of the grandchildren and I think Chica likes them more than us now! :) Anyway, while we were in San Francisco, Chica decided to run away for an hour and when she finally returned, this is what she had with her...

Canyou tell what it is? It's a leg. A deer leg. I guess some hunter left the leg and Chica found it. She was so proud of her find. According to Mom and Dad, she buried it in the garden and was constantly up all night going out to check on it. She's so funny!

Muir Woods + Quote of the Week

"What did the tree learn from the earth to be able to talk with the sky?"
-Pablo Neruda

China Town

Then we went to china town where we ate yummy food at 10pm and then we bought this kickass cast iron teapot. We bought real tea leaves and when Brandon and I made a pot the other day, we drank it all because it was so yummy and could not fall asleep that night. So don't consume caffeine after 2pm or else you will be up all night. Ugh.

Biking San Fran

On our second to last day in San Francisco we rented bikes for the day and rode them from Fisherman's Wharf, along the bay, across Golden Gate bridge, through Sausalito and over to Tiburon. It was SIXTEEN MILES! Okay, maybe that's not a lot for biking but my butt was totally sore after. It was totally worth it! It was great to see the city at that pace and to enjoy the great weather that day.

We rode a ferry back from Tiburon to the Wharf where we had to return our bikes. It was so much fun! If you ever go to San Francisco, definitely do the bike tour.

Alcatraz

Our next stop was Alcatraz. We took the ferry out to the island and took the audio tour which was really interesting. It's such a somber place. I couldn't help but feel so sad for those who spent time here...it wasn't an issue of whether they deserved to be there or not but just the thought of what kind of a life it would be in this place. It makes me wonder if locking up criminals in a cold and uninviting environment is really a way to rehabilatate them? Just a thought.

Brandon and Dave out in the prison yard

One of the isolation cells

Oh, and I have a picture of a ghost here. No, not really. Hmm...but, really? I swear there was nobody around me. What is it??

...and I digress...

And now a small intermission from the other photos for a quick photo montage of HATS. Yes, that's right.....hats.

Heeeehuuuuum.

Mwuah?

Meh?


Yo.

Eeeeeek.


Taaaaadaaaaaaaa.
Sup.

No comment.
Ya mon.

San Francisco

Crossing over the Golden Gate Bridge...
We got a spectacular view of the city from Telegraph Hill...
Yeah, you wish this was a real vending machine. It wasn't by the way.These sea lions were so loud! It was so entertaining to watch the dominant males push each other off of the platform and bark at each other. All of the females were just laying around like, "shut up already!"
A cool sculpture by Fisherman's Wharf.

Eating grapes...

An Olive tree...the olives didn't taste good though :)

...and the wine is bottled poetry...

(quote by Robert Louis Stevenson)

And we're back! We had such a blast in California. The weather was absolutely perfect. I have so many pictures to post, so I'll do a little at at time :)

Our first stop was Napa Valley. The landscape there is unbelievable. Endless hills of vineyards. The air smelled like wine in the entire valley because it is harvest season and the fermenting of the grapes just fills the air. Time seemed to move so slowly and everything was so laid back and peaceful! We spent our time there in a beautiful little historic town called St. Helena where we window shopped for a while, then we went to a few vineyards to go wine tasting.

The second day, we ended up at probably the best winery ever! We stopped to do a little wine tasting, and we decided to split it so that we didn't get too much to drink :) Our server was so much fun though and she gave us about 12 samplings although we only paid for 6. Oh well, she did her job well because we ended up buying a few bottles to take home. Mmmmmm.

V. Sattui vineyards are so beautiful and they have their own cheese/deli store on site, so we did some wine tasting, bought some yummy wine, fresh bread, cheese and salami, and took it onto the grass for a picnic.

Here's the picnic...doesn't it all look so yummy? Mmmm. It was so delicious.

Isn't this just the cutest picture ever? I think we sat in the grass for about five hours. It was so relaxing sitting under the trees, laughing and having a great time doing absolutely nothing.

Remember that beautiful "before" picture of the food? This is what it looked like after. Definitely one of my favorite memories of the trip.